It’s three and easy for on-form Saints
WITH FOOTBALL IN COLD STORAGE WE TAKE A LOOK AT OLD ST Buddies grab all the points in seaside raid
Craig Ritchie
St Mirren kicked- off their League Cup campaign in style as they sailed away from Stranraer with three points in the bag.
Goals from Gavin Reilly, Ross Stewart, Lewis Morgan and Gregor Buchanan helped Saints seal the victory with relative ease, despite an early scare after Scott Agnew opened the scoring for the hosts.
Victory sees St Mirren top Group H after matchday one, with Livingston and Partick Thistle sharing a 1-1 draw at Almondvale.
Jack Ross opted to hand competitive debuts to five of his summer signings, with midfielder Ian McShane slotting into the heart of the midfield, having signed on a two-year deal from Ross County.
And the 24-year-old came close to a dream debut inside six minutes, but his strike was well blocked by Stranraer goalkeeper Cameron Belford at the near post. the covering Tom Lang but cannoned back off the post, falling kindly to Reilly to leather home from five yards.
No sooner had St Mirren levelled, they then found themselves ahead.
McShane’s angled free-kick towards the back post found the head of Gregor Buchanan, who’s effort was only parried into the path of Ross Stewart to fire home at the second attempt.
The Buddies were now dominating as the half drew to a close, with Morgan on hand to double the advantage following a clever corner routine.
McShane played the set piece short to Cammy Smith, collecting the return pass before clipping the ball to the awaiting Morgan at the edge of the box.
The winger took one touch before smashing a deflected effort, which wound its way into the bottom corner with 40 minutes on the clock.
McShane would go close to extending the advantage on the stroke of half time, closing down an attempted clearance from Morgyn Neill before firing a driven effort, which required Belford to palm around the post.
Into the second half, and St Mirren continued to maintain the upper hand, extending their advantage even further within 10 minutes.
Buchanan was the man on hand to find the back of the net as he leapt above Neill to head home into the bottom corner to make it 4-1.
Comfortably leading, Saints had chances through Stewart and McGinn to further extend their advantage in the closing stages.
Jordan Kirkpatrick, Rocco Quinn and Conor O’Keefe were all introduced in the final 20 minutes to get vital minutes under their belts.
And despite a late booking for Quinn for kicking the ball away, Saints saw out the game with relative ease to get open the season with a victory.